<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>You looked me in the eyes (and the world fell apart)((again)) by Shining_and_Dying</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23410309">You looked me in the eyes (and the world fell apart)((again))</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shining_and_Dying/pseuds/Shining_and_Dying'>Shining_and_Dying</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Time Travel, potential Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:00:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23410309</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shining_and_Dying/pseuds/Shining_and_Dying</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What if you could go back? Fix everything that went wrong and start anew, In a better tomorrow than yesterdays?</p>
<p>Paul Matthews has that option, he could go back and save the world, for real this time. But can he? Will he be able to right what's wrong, or will he meet the same fate as before?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bill/Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>You looked me in the eyes (and the world fell apart)((again))</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>
  <strong>TW FOR THIS CHAPTER:</strong>
  <br/>
  <em>Graphic Depictions of Violence/Death</em>
  <br/>
</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Darkness. Light. Is this all there is? Is this what awaits when a man is dead and gone? A void, that is overwhelmingly black and white? No, that can't be right, this can't be all there is. This can't be how this story ends, how my story ends. The world being taken over, forcing the bodies of the dead to sing and dance for the rest of time itself. </p>
<p>	 I  need to wake up, to open my eyes. Why is it so hard? Why can't I wake up? No, I just need to focus, this isn't impossible.  I need to snap out of this. I just...need...to focus...a little harder...<br/>
...<br/>
...<br/>
...<br/>
"Good evening Paul, we have a lot to talk about."</p>
<p>♬♩♪♩ ♩♪♩♬♬♩♪♩ ♩♪♩♬♬♩♪♩ </p>
<p>	"Wait, wait, so you are telling me that this weird void like afterlife is...called the black and white? Seems very on the nose." Paul still couldn't wrap his head around what had happened. One minute, he was blowing up an alien meteor, and the next he was standing in the so-called black and white, with a man who had been possessed and tried to strangle him to death when he had last seen him. </p>
<p>	"Yes Paul, indeed, but we have no time to focus on that! We must fix this mess, and only you can do it, Paul." John took Paul by the shoulders as he said this, looking him dead in the eye.</p>
<p>	"Me?! Why me?! Why not you?! How?!" Paul asked, looking at John as if he was a madman. </p>
<p>	"We have little time for explanations Paul, we must act and we must act fast. Or rather, you must act fast. You see, by manipulating the forces of the black and white we can turn back time to the day of the meteor strike and destroy this alien spore before it infects the world. Paul, I must remain here and make sure you can safely traverse back to Earth. Take my watch, it will be the proof you need to show that this was, and is all very real. I wish you luck soldier, and I pray you can make a better future for us all."</p>
<p>	Before he could fully process what had been said to him, Paul swiftly returned to the unconscious.</p>
<p>♬♩♪♩ ♩♪♩♬♬♩♪♩ ♩♪♩♬♬♩♪♩ </p>
<p>	Waking up with a startle, Paul shot up out of his bed and frantically looked around his room. This was his room, unchanged and all the same as how he left it two days ago. No wasn't isn't two days ago anymore, was it? Looking down at his body, he sees absolutely no sign of the injuries that should have littered his body after the explosion. Whipping out his phone, he checks the date and sure is as sure was, it was the day of the meteor strike. For his final act of confirmation, he patted down his body and felt something cold in his pajama bottom's pocket, he reached out and saw it, John's watch.</p>
<p>	Taking a deep breath Paul sat and thought about what had transpired. He watched all of his coworkers die, or would he call them his friends? Could he call them his friends after all that? Paul swiftly shoved that thought aside and returned to his main train of thought. He watched the possible love of his life bleed out, he felt an alien spore take over his body, and then to top it all off, got exploded. He woke up in some weird after-life dimension only to be sent back to now.</p>
<p>	How's he going to fix this? He couldn't go to any of his coworkers, they'd think he was crazy. Maybe he could drop some hints, and lead them in the right direction? Then he remembered the one man who saw this coming, who theorized this exact scenario thirty years ago, one Dr. Hidgens. He knows where he lives, he can go to him, talk to him and convince Hidgens to help him.</p>
<p> 	Making up his mind, Paul came up with a game plan. His first course of action was to go to work as usual. Once he is there, he would...what would he do? He couldn't tell them outright about the infection, but he couldn't let them just go on unaware of everything. Maybe he could get them all in the same place at the same time? He would do something about it when he got there.</p>
<p>	Then, he would sneak out and find Dr. Hidgens and hopefully convince him to help him figure out how to wipe out this alien hivemind once and for all. </p>
<p>	Then he remembered one key factor that completely skipped over his mind, Emma. God, how is he going to back to the way it was after all they had done together? After what they had...no, he could handle this, he has to handle this. They can have a better future if he manages to get this one right.</p>
<p>	He got ready for the day, tying his tie and heading out the door. On the ride to work, he tried to think of something to say to his coworkers to no avail. He had to wing this one, didn't he? Arriving at work, he sat down at his desk, turned on his computer, and started to get to work. Just as he remembered it, Bill turns over and started to talk to him.</p>
<p>	"Hey Paul, I was trying to print something and I think I might have sent it to your printer." Paul turned over and suddenly finds himself staring at Bill, and suddenly all he could see was his friend with a hole in his chest, crumpled at the feet of what remained of his daughter. He remembered watching Bill go down, and being completely powerless to stop it.</p>
<p>	"Uhm, Paul? Are you there?" Bill asked tentatively, and Paul snapped out of his stupor, remembering where he was.</p>
<p>	"Oh, um, yeah, one second." He checked his printer, and sure enough, the paper was there. He hands it to Bill with a small smile and decided that he may have an opportunity to save Alice, however small it would be.</p>
<p>	"You know, I hear there is supposed to be an awful storm tonight, bad winds and stormy showers, the works. It is supposed to last all through tonight and tomorrow." Paul lied through his teeth, hoping to spark the worried parent within Bill. Luckily, it worked, seeing as Bill was a worrier more than he was a fact-checker.</p>
<p>	"A storm?! But Alice is supposed to be leaving tomorrow morning, I can't have her leaving on an unsafe bus in those conditions! Maybe, just this once, I can sneak her in just one more day, for her safety, of course." Bill said, partly under his breath. While Paul felt slightly bad for manipulating his friend, he knew that this was the only way to keep them both safe.</p>
<p>	"Hey Paul, can I get those reports on my desk by the end of the day?" Mr. Davidson walked in, giving Paul what he hoped to be a friendly smile, but in reality, it looked more like a cheap knockoff of the actual expression. If Paul didn't know any better, he would think Mr. Davidson was already infected.</p>
<p>	"Yes, Mr. Davidson," Paul replied, not wishing to prolong his interaction with the man. He did feel pity towards the man, he was forced by the hive to reveal his fetish directly to Paul, which he is sure would have been very embarrassing if Mr. Davidson was Mr. Davidson at the time.</p>
<p>	"Hi, Paul, were you going to sign up for the company softball league?" Melissa asked him with a smile. Paul thought it over, and after all he had been through, and probably will be through, he decided that it really couldn't hurt to go for it.</p>
<p>	"You know what? Sure, I'll sign up." Paul said with a smile, causing Bill, Charolette, and especially Melissa to look at him with slight shock. None of them were expecting Paul to agree, as they all knew him to be probably one of the blandest and uneventful people in the office.</p>
<p>	"Oh, oh okay! Just sign here please!" Melissa said, getting over her shock and handing the clipboard for Paul to sign. Upon doing so, Melissa left with a pleasant smile on her face. Paul just felt bad that her turning was inevitable.</p>
<p>	Just as Melissa scurried off, Charlotte's phone rang, as she picked it up and started talking, it was clear that the person on the other end was her husband, Sam. Paul had only met the man a few times before and based on what he had seen the man left much to be desired.</p>
<p>	Charlotte hung up the phone. She seemed dejected about not getting her "cuddle night." She shakily started to bring out a cigarette, and Paul decided that he was going to be better to her, and not blow off the issue this time around.</p>
<p>	"Charlotte, you really shouldn't be smoking, it can't be good for you," Paul said softly, not wanting to startle her. Charlotte shakily looked down, not even realizing that she had taken out the cigarette.</p>
<p>	"Oh, I hadn't noticed, sorry," As soon as she put the cigarette away, she whipped out a flask, ready to take a swig out of it.</p>
<p>	"Charlotte, do you need to take a break? I'm sure Mr. Davidson won't mind, and if he comes around I'll make an excuse for you, don't worry." Paul spoke carefully, not wanting to upset Charlotte further by accident. He had a pretty bad habit of doing that.</p>
<p>	"That...would be nice, thank you, Paul," Charlotte said, giving Paul a shaky smile and stepping out of the room, leaving her flask behind. Paul silently slipped it into the trash, without a single witness. He could fix that problem later, he had work to do and a picture of Charlotte with her guts falling out of her sweater to erase from his mind.</p>
<p>	"I'm gonna go to Beanies, do any of you want anything? Bill?" Paul asked, standing up from his chair and already knowing the answer that was to come. Bill spiraled into a rant about how his ex-wife took his daughter to go see Hamilton, and now he had to take her to Mamma Mia to show her up? Paul still didn't get the obsession over musicals. When Bill asked Paul if he wanted to come, he had an excuse to get out of it.</p>
<p>	"Sorry Bill, I would love to go see the touring production of Mamma Mia with you and your daughter but I already have plans tonight," Bill seemed to accept this answer, and, while still dejected, agreed to let Paul buy him a caramel frappe.</p>
<p>	As Paul was about to walk out of the door, he happened to run into the biggest douchebag in the office: Ted. He didn't want to, but if Paul was going to make this right and keep as many people alive as possible, he supposed he had to be at least a little civil, he could work through all of the "character development" tomorrow. Hopefully.</p>
<p>	"Hey, you going to Beanies? You didn't invite me." Paul took a deep breath and willed himself to have patience. He had forgotten how....assholeish Ted was.</p>
<p>	"Sorry Ted, do you want to come?" Paul said, looking at Ted, with a disinterested expression. He just wanted to get out of there, before he started thinking about how he last saw him with a hole in his neck. Ted gave the whole spiel about how he "didn't want to show him up" in front of the "latte hatte." Paul sat through this, and, just wanting to get out of here, wrapped up his conversation with Ted.</p>
<p>	"Great, I'll grab you a chai iced tea Ted, see ya!" Paul said hurriedly as he rushed out of the building, leaving a confused Ted in his path. </p>
<p>	Ted was left there to wonder how he already knew his order, he never said it in front of Paul, or had him order it for him before. Ted shrugged it off to the back of his mind, but he, along with the rest of their floor, noticed something was up with Paul. They just didn't know what.</p>
<p>	As Paul got out, he took a shaky breath and slammed his head against the nearest wall. He had to face Emma now, and try to keep his composure. He wasn't sure how well he was going to be able to do that, but he only hoped long enough to get through a conversation. He would tip more this time too, for no particular reason other than that she deserves it. Mentally gearing himself, he started the walk to Beanies.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Noo don't kudos this and comment if you want more your so sexy aha</p>
<p>Nah but rlly I wrote/edited this at like, 4 am and I am going to go to sleep now and regret ever posting this lmao</p>
<p>I am v rusty with writing still, I haven't done it in a year or so but I hope you enjoy this nonetheless, and I plan on updating this.....eventually. Hopefully, I will churn at least one chapter out a week but  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯</p>
<p>Edit: I fixed the issue w/the line break, no idea what caused my computer to duplicate it like that</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>